Sunday, January 29, 2012

“WORDS AND MUSIC: How a Singer became a Novelist” Louise MarleyRedmond Regional Library February 16 at 7:00 p.m.

”My presentation will focus on the marvelous and energizing phenomenon of a mid-life career change. Since I had been a singer for decades before beginning to publish novels, I learned a lot about how the principles and lessons learned in a first career translate into success in the second; I also found that with age, comes courage--launching my second career was far easier than launching my first.”

Local author, Louise Marley will share her story and evolution from the world of opera to award winning Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has written fifteen books. Her latest, The Brahms Deception, was released in August 2011.

She was recognized twice with the Endeavor Award for a distinguished Science Fiction or Fantasy Book written by a Northwest author: The Child Goddess and Glass Harmonica. Teens as well as adults are attracted to the writing style of a literary musician who intertwines intrigue with musical history and reference.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Christoph Willibald Gluck was one of the three greatest opera composers of the 18th Century. His most famous work is his operatic retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Euridice. Seattle Opera will be presenting the French version, Orphee et Euridice, which features a tenor in the role of Orpheus rather than a mezzo-soprano as in the Italian version. This splendid operatic masterpiece has not been presented in Seattle in more than 20 years.

Join opera lecturer, Norm Hollingshead, for a talk on what makes this opera so special. The talk is at the Redmond Library on Monday, February 6th at 7pm. Mr. Hollingshead is an engaging speaker, who illustrate his commentary with recorded music excerpts.

The talk will also be given at the following KCLS locations:

Monday, January 30th, 7pm

Kirkland Library

Tuesday, February 21st, 7pm

Issaquah Library

Wednesday, February 22nd, 7pm

Mercer Island Library

Orphee et Euridice This sumptuous and exhilarating account of the legendary Greek hero’s descent into the underworld to rescue his true love changed the course of musical storytelling forever. With its perfectly crafted libretto and generous helping of exceptional music — evocative choral passages, imaginative ballets, dramatic duets, and the hero’s famous lament —Orphee et Euridice conveys a timeless message of love’s power to triumph over all.

Seattle Opera performs Orphee et Euridice six times from February 25th through March 10th.

The Seattle Opera sets for Orphee have the challenge that they must portray two worlds: above-ground earth and the underworld. Go behind-the-scenes as the Scene Shop builds an 800 pound tree — both its above ground earthly stature and its unruly underworld root system. Here’s a video that shows a behind-the-scenes tour of building the sets:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

As if Redmond couldn’t be more beautiful, it’s been blanketed in (several) layers of snow for the past few days. Wednesday was projected to be the worst of the snow, so many King County Libraries were operating on reduced schedules.

Given the novelty of this much snow in the neighborhood, and my book on hold waiting for me, I took the opportunity to snowshoe the 3 miles round-trip from my house to the library. I saw that many others were out enjoying the day as I passed skiers, sledders, walkers, and other snowshoers along the Sammamish River Trail. Even the ducks were out for a meander!

I arrived to find a few more intrepid souls braving the elements to use the library. In addition to a (very) few vehicles in the parking lot, people appeared to arrive by foot and … by bike. Biking in the snow is something I’ve never tried. Maybe next time! (not really)

The City of Redmond’s website is updating regularly noting conditions within the City, so be sure to check it out before you head out on Thursday. Please also consider donating blood - a Blood Mobile will be at City Hall tomorrow and due to the weather, supplies are dangerously low.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Oh, the MLA Handbook. How that brings me back to my college days! “Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America provides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy.”1